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from the perspectives of management communication, organizational communication, marketing
communication and public relations, plus chapters focusing on CSR practices, tools and processes.
Other contributions worth mentioning in this connection are “Corporate Social Responsibility:
Virtue or Vice” (May 2011) and a textbook on CSR communication entitled “Strategic CSR
Communication” (Morsing/Bechmann 2006), introducing CSR communication from a strategic
stakeholder group perspective (consumers, NGOs, employees, investors etc.). A third anthological
contribution is “The Debate over Corporate Social Responsibility” (May et al. 2007), which
is anchored in organizational communication and incorporates a conceptual and critical reflection
on CSR and CSR communication. However, as pointed out by Ihlen et al. (2011), in most of
these textbooks and anthologies, CSR communication has not been subject to research in its own
right, which was the primary motivation behind the publication of the first handbook in the field
(Ihlen et al. 2011: 5).
This article investigates the stream s and themes which dominate in the CSR management and
marketing communication research. Reviews of the CSR literature have typically been categorized
into groups according to the dominant CSR theme or focus of the articles concerned, for instance
social responsibility, environmental responsibility and business ethics (e.g. Egri/Ralston
2008; Lockett et al.,2006; Taneja et al. 2011). This review is categorized into two groups, i.e. CSR
management and marketing communication according to the dominant research streams which
have influenced the CSR communication research and the dominant CSR communication theme
or focus of the articles.
The objective of this article is threefold. First, it examines CSR management and marketing
communication research streams and themes. Second, it synthesizes the means by which CSR
management and marketing communication activities can add value for stakeholders using the
corporate communication framework and the distinction between strategies and operational practices
supporting these strategies. Third, it presents a research agenda for future research to allow
greater consistency and mutual understanding among CSR communication researchers.
The article is organized as follows: In the next section, the research method is presented, the
focus being on the literature collection methodology and the parameters used for reviewing and
analyzing the selected literature. After this, the results are presented and discussed with special
reference to areas of focus which have been identified in the analysis. The article ends with implications
of the study, directions of future research, and contributions.
2. Research method
The research method for the study is discussed in the two sub-sections below: a) literature collection
methodology, and b) research parameters used for reviewing the selected literature.
2.1. Literature collection methodology: a two-step keyword search process
In order to be able to define the streams and themes in the CSR management and marketing communication
research, a conventional keyword-based search strategy was adopted. This search
strategy is relatively simple and easy to use. However, it may result in a very large number of irrelevant
references. In an attempt to avoid this, the following selection criteria were adopted:
• Two-step search process: a) “corporate social responsibility” and “CSR” combined with
“management and/or marketing communication”; b) “corporate social responsibility
management and/or marketing communication”, “CSR management and/or marketing
communication”.
• International peer-reviewed articles in academic journals (full text, references available).
• Delimitation to the period 2000–2011.